2016 Spanish Grand Prix grid

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Row 1 1. Lewis Hamilton 1’22.000
Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg 1’22.280
Mercedes
Row 2 3. Daniel Ricciardo 1’22.680
Red Bull
4. Max Verstappen 1’23.087
Red Bull
Row 3 5. Kimi Raikkonen 1’23.113
Ferrari
6. Sebastian Vettel 1’23.334
Ferrari
Row 4 7. Valtteri Bottas 1’23.522
Williams
8. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’23.643
Toro Rosso
Row 5 9. Sergio Perez 1’23.782
Force India
10. Fernando Alonso 1’23.981
McLaren
Row 6 11. Nico Hulkenberg 1’24.203
Force India
12. Jenson Button 1’24.348
McLaren
Row 7 13. Daniil Kvyat 1’24.445
Toro Rosso
14. Romain Grosjean 1’24.480
Haas
Row 8 15. Kevin Magnussen 1’24.625
Renault
16. Esteban Gutierrez 1’24.778
Haas
Row 9 17. Jolyon Palmer 1’24.903
Renault
18. Felipe Massa 1’24.941
Williams
Row 10 19. Marcus Ericsson 1’25.202
Sauber
20. Felipe Nasr 1’25.579
Sauber
Row 11 21. Pascal Wehrlein 1’25.745
Manor
22. Rio Haryanto 1’25.939
Manor

View the grid in eighties mode (plays sound)

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

71 comments on “2016 Spanish Grand Prix grid”

  1. Cor, Ricciardo, stepping it up in incredible fashion when he needed to. But what a RBR debut from Verstappen too. If their engine update is as good as it is, podiums and even wins beckon.
    Hamilton lap was blinding, but Alonso the hero here. Outstanding.

    1. so KVY is 2-3 tenths slower than RIC and he is demoted, VES is 0.4 sec slower and he is hailed. =)

      1. +1000

      2. And Sainz is 0.8 s faster than Kvyat, which means he is 0.5 s faster than Ricciardo, RIGHT?

        1. It is easier to adapt to BETTER car then to go back to WORSE one especially after whole treatment of Kvyat when we compare China and meltdown after Russia.

        2. one thing is going up to a better car and enjoy its better handling, the other is to go down to a worse car where you have to learn its shortcomings. But you knew that.

          1. And one is moving to a new tram while the other is going back to to tram he already knows …

            Point is: making such comparisons is totally useless after one qualifying session. Let’s dig up the stats again after the chequered flag has been shown in Abu Dhabi.

          2. *team

      3. Guess we finally see what Ricciardo can do when his teammate pushes him

      4. Maybe because he was leading Daniel through all the qualifliers impressly when he is for the first time he jumped in.

      5. That’s an interesting observation.
        Was their decision not based on a whole array of facts? If it were just one lap pace, then Sainz would have taken MV’s place.

      6. Well, it is Max’s first run in the Red Bull, after all… there’s more to it than just the gap. That said, I’m really happy RIC prevailed. I think there’s a little too much hype around young Verstappen (it appears to be warranted though, so take nothing from him) so I don’t mind him not being a bigger talking point this weekend.

        1. I know this sounds to be a bad wish, but I would laugh my socks off if VES collides with VET tomorrow. Even being a Ferrari fan for the last 20 years would not stand in the way))) This season is to be written off anyways. Yet again…

          1. The chance that VET will collides into VES is more likelly :)

  2. Amit (@lautmotor)
    14th May 2016, 14:06

    Well, what can we say.

    Ferrari What the hell are you doing??

    Sensational drive by the two Bulls!! Riciardo still the man.

    And Lewis, have a great start tomorrow!!

    1. I didn’t expect it to be Mercedes-Red Bull-Ferrari. Vettel was faster in FP3 than in Q3, so there really was something wrong with the red cars.

      1. Heat and wind took them by suprise?

        1. Most commentators|pundits seem to say that Ferrari enjoy “warmer” tracks; and the wind was announced as less than 4 m.p.h (1.5 m/s) — not exactly a gale…

          1. Huh.. at sky they commented on the wind and showed flags that were clearly moved a stronger wind than 1.5m/s. But i woudn’t know how changing winds affect which car and driver anyways. Those just were the two factors that changed the most since fp3..

  3. petebaldwin (@)
    14th May 2016, 14:07

    Hope they all get around turn 1 safely as it looks like we could have a brilliant fight tomorrow. Lewis vs Nico, Vettel behind Kimi, Verstappen behind Ricciardo, Ferrari behind Red Bull. Fingers crossed!

  4. What a qualification that was.
    Hamilton may be on pole but chances are he has not yet resolved his clutch issues. Nico on the other hand..
    Comparing their clutch issue successes out of 4 races
    Nico: 3x namely Australia, Bahrain, Russia
    Lewis: 1 in China

  5. Lewis Hamilton!! A BEAST OF A MAN!!
    Daniel Ricciardo!! A BEAST OF A MAN!!

    Both men did exceptionally well while under pressure, kudos to them.
    Talk about how to turn the tables on your team mates in qualy. I know points are won
    tomorrow but I really enjoyed that qualifying session.

    I think- and it’s only my opinion- that after the massive lockup Lewis went conservative with his final effort,
    knowing of course that he had the measure of Rosberg.
    Verstappen’s Q2 time was mega- but yup Danny Ricciardo can’t afford to be complacent now, he has his
    hands full thanks to the 18 year old. Initially I thought Verstappen was all hype but the boy has talent.

  6. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    14th May 2016, 14:09

    Marchionne is hating all this already. All that hype about Ferrari closing the gap on FP3 was just Mercedes bluffing again.

  7. I predicted a 1:21.999 pole for Rosberg. Anyone got closer than me? :P

    Anyway: what an amazing quali! Why the hell would you want to change the qualification format …

    I feel so stupid for overhyping Ferrari this weekend, the real fight tomorrow will be the one for 3rd place.

    1. Devastated, I completely forgot to make predictions for this round 😭

    2. Hey @paeschli, 15 players picked 1:22.000, which might be a record for the number exactly correct (@keithcollantine ?). But only 4 of the 15 chose HAM over ROS. In fact, most predictions expected HAM’s qualifying issues to continue – the following lists the number of predictions that the drivers got for gaining pole:
      ROS 472,
      HAM 235,
      VET 18,
      RAI 2,
      RIC 1,
      HUL 1,
      BOT 1.

      HAM was a more popular selection for victory, as were the Ferraris:
      ROS 358,
      HAM 274,
      VET 83,
      RAI 13,
      RIC 1,
      BUT 1.

      It should be interesting to see if the red cars can do any better in the race.

      Hey @strontium – go to the Predictions page right now and fill in default picks for every race for the rest of the season. You can adjust them closer to qualifying but even if you forget you won’t feel this devastated again :)

  8. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    14th May 2016, 14:09

    I’m in love with Ricciardo.

    Impressed by Verstappen… I guess Red Bull were right to do the switch.

    Ferrari clearly forgot to turn up.

    1. RedBull right to do the switch?

      I know it’s only his first race for them, but he is further behind Ricciardo than Kvyatt was.

      I think Verstappen is highly overrated, but time will tell. He may do just fine but as far as I’m concerned he is no better than Sainz.

      1. That’s one metric, one could say Kvyat was usually seperated from his team mate by several drivers.

      2. @nick101

        Only if you only use Russia as the metric where Kvyat was still over 3/10 of a second behind Ricciardo. So from the very best case Verstappen in his first qualifying in a new car to him was only a tenth slower than Ricciardo than Kvyat was who has had all of winter testing in the car as well as the first lot of races.

        And from a worse case scenario looking at the other qualifying sessions Kvyat was even further behind Ricciardo than Verstappen has just been. One race isn’t enough to draw a solid conclusion from, but even jumping the gun and making one this early still looks highly favourable to Verstappen.

    2. Why? That car could go amost half a second faster.

  9. Vettel time in Q3 is slower than his time in P3.

    Which either means Ferrari was really pushing to the limit in P3, or there was something about the conditions in Q3 that their cars just don’t like.

    Hope we will have a nice battle for 1st between the Mercs tomorrow, and Red Bull and Ferrari for the last place on the podium.

    1. Yeah. Something definitely was not working with the set up they chose for both cars after practice sessions.
      What is weird is how close the TorroRosso are to Ferrari, while running 2015 power units.

  10. Ferrari is 1s slower than Mercedes in Barcelona in hot conditions (Ferrari’s strength), Torro Rosso is 0.5s slower with a 1 year old PU that was fitted in the car 2 months before testing. It’s time to sign James Key and focus on the 2017 car and build a better chassis, Stunning performance from Lewis and Ricciardo who was under pressure from Max all the weekend

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      14th May 2016, 14:15

      @tifoso1989 being a Ferrari fan hurts, doesn’t it? When will they materialize the threat? I’m waiting.

      1. @omar-pepper Oh man it does really hurt. It is now clear we have to clench our fists YET AGAIN hoping for the next season to be better. But hey, we’re quite accustomed to it already, aren’t we… Sigh…

        1. Just be glad you’re not a McLaren fan like me….

    2. Ferrari is going backwards. Being more than 1 sec off pole and being beaten by both RB is quite embarrassing. Heads goin’ to roll

      1. I still dont understand why Marchione is doing the same as Montezemolo, teams don’t win because of pressure…

        1. The Italian way…

        2. His_majesty
          14th May 2016, 23:08

          Well, they had Australia in the bag until stoopid pit strategies.

  11. Hamilton was stunning. Max was fast as expected. Still Ricciardo showed what he’s made of! Poor Ferrari. They believed they’ve been closest ever or even can win this weekend but how it turns out. Alonso was right.

    1. For sure I cannot blame Alonso for moving. Ferrari has been the biggest disappointment this season, just as they were in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. It’s been close but not quite too many times.

      1. It is now 10 years ago Alonso won his last WDC.
        Afraid its all game over for him, as the McLaren is even further back/hopeless vs Ferrari.
        Those two teams are really in shambles. Ferrari is close, but they have been that many years during past 10 and never got it right…

        1. Mansell won at 39 his only WDC with car(s) that were much harder to drive then today baby machines that one weak,skinny 18 year old can drive easy.So i don’t know why u people blabla all the time about someone being “too old” to win.Alonso is very fit and should we mention thriatlon man Button? Give them proper car and they will fight for championship when they are in 40’s no problem.

          1. Yes but how many F1 drivers these days retire at 39? F1 retirees have been getting younger and younger, FACT. Also in this day and age were qualy counts for a lot due to difficulties in following- if a driver loses a couple of tenths as he gets older teams tend to think he’s past. it. F1 is not the F1 of the late eighties early 90s anymore pal, get with the times.

  12. That was a nice session!the shock elimination of Massa probably allowed Alonso to make it into Q3 but hey, that’s racing. Congrats to mcLaren, an important step which will surely be a relief for all the team.
    As for Ferrari that was an absolute rubbish performance, I didn’t expect that.
    And kudos for Max and Carlos for their more than respectable performance. Kvyat behind the mcLarens on the other side is having a hard time.

  13. Max is pushing Ric to the limit.. good work Helmut ;0

  14. Two or three laps and both Ferrari’s are past the Red Bulls with DRS, by then both Mercedes cars are gone and we can see a 1-2 Mercedes, 3-4 Ferrari and 5-6 Red Bull. Only interesting might be the order of the teammates but as tyres play a big role I don’t expect much out of it. Either way, I’m in Mettet for the WRX round.

    1. It depends on Ferrari’s ability to sort out their qualifying problem. If they do, they may finish 3rd and 4th, but I don’t think it will be easy. Overtaking will be difficult and Red Bull is incredibly good at race strategy, so they either have to pass them at the start or come up with something really intelligent in the race.
      I hope the Mercedes drivers will have a nice battle for the lead.

      1. @f1infigures That really intelligent thing you’re talking about might just be DRS, end of story…

        1. @xtwl yh drs works so well here in past.(roll eyes) final sector ferrari will not be close.

        2. @xtwl The Red Bulls are quite fast in the last sector, so it won’t be easy for the Ferraris to get close enough for DRS to make any difference.

  15. Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
    14th May 2016, 14:15

    Brilliant efforts from Hamilton, Ricciardo, Verstappen and Alonso!

    1. Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
      14th May 2016, 14:18

      On the subject of Alonso, he has not made the wrong move to McLaren so far. Ferrari are definitely not in a position to win the championship at least this year.

      1. Because fighting for a place in Q3 is better than fighting for a spot on the podium?

        After McLaren producing 4 bad cars in in a row, I wouldn’t put my money on them for 2017.

        1. @paeschli @ultimateuzair Or 2018, 2019 and 2020. Either way, had Alonso kept driving for Ferrari he now would have been past a century of podiums, something he now most likely never will.

        2. Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
          14th May 2016, 14:36

          That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that the reason why Alonso moved to McLaren was because he felt that he could not win a championship at Ferrari. At this stage, I don’t think that podiums matter to Alonso anymore, or even the occasional win. The championship is everything for Alonso which is completely understandable, and so far Alonso hasn’t made the right or wrong move as neither Ferrari nor McLaren can win the championship at the moment, so Alonso hasn’t lost or gained anything at this point.

          1. @ultimateuzair Right. He got the title of last podium man during his Ferrari adventure. He’s tired of podium finish which is not 1st. One thing he want is just one working season. so Ferrari and Mclaren make no difference for him except he lost faith on Ferrari. at least Mclaren gave him uncertainty which has been not in a good way so far though. Some might call it a gamble and yes, sometimes a gamble might be better than expected failures.

        3. @paeschli

          Alonso has said that if Ferrari win a championship before he does at McLaren then it will have been a mistake. But he doesn’t care to be coming 2nd or 3rd in the championship time after time.

          No one thinks he’s currently happier in a car fighting to get into the points than he would be in a car that can take podiums and occasional wins. But at the end of his career he’ll probably feel happier that he took a big gamble in the hope of winning a championship than sitting playing safe coming 3rd every year like it’s starting to look like would have happened staying with Ferrari.

  16. It was good of RIC to not lie down but it must be remembered that was VES first competitive session in the car. It’ll be scary when he becomes in tune with its strengths.

    Just hope he doesn’t let being behind mess with his head in the mean time.

  17. That was a proper qualifying session. MEGA performance from Hamilton, considering he’s had rather limited hot laps so far in qualifying trim this year. Rosberg as usual there or thereabouts… can’t fault his driving at all this year. Red Bulls seem to have finally arrived at the pointy end (I’m sure Ferrari especially won’t be hosting the welcome party any time soon…), and I’m glad McLaren seem to be on their way up as well. Ferrari looked really pointy today, but I suspect they’ll be right there in race trim. Those Red Bulls won’t be making it easy though

  18. Awesome session. Max, Ricci, Lewis :)

    Max IS worth the hype. Very exciting. Red Bull are going to be right up there if the Renault upgrade delivers. I don’t really take to them but they are quality.

    Ferrari got, er, smoked ;) It’s a fairly reliable pattern that when the big boss sticks his entitled ego in they have a slide.

    1. People using the gap between Max and Daniel as a sign he’s not good enough are like global warming deniers.

  19. When Machionne said Ferrari were .01 of a second off of Mercedes, he helped build up expectations that . Mercedes seem to have another level with their power unit that Ferrari know nothing about.
    Ferrari have been a massive dissapointment because they speak a big game but do not show up when it matters. They appear to always be second best when new rules kick in. I’d give the team one last chance but if the can’t beat Mercedes next year, time to tear the team apart and hire some new engineers.

    1. Ferrari today had no engine trouble, how they flopped around the track has to be suspension/chassis or aero. RB has worse engine and they are faster, TR definitely has worse engine, and they are almost there.

  20. Fantastic quali session to watch! Really enjoyed it to the last minute, what a lap from both Hamilton and Ricciardo! It also shows how much progress Renault have made with their PU compared to last year, and how much is left to do on their chassis… Very looking forward the race tomorrow, I really hope this time we will see people fighting for the first place.

  21. If Sainz was better then Verstappen, they swap Kvyat for Sainz. Horner explain why they took Verstappen. Data, results, data, results and more data that shows that Verstappen could do the job. A amazing lap from Ricardo and a great race ahead of us. People ; the first copple of rounds from Verstappen in RB, only praise.

  22. What an amazing thing is that eighties grid, @keithcollantine.

    1. Brilliant! Just needs Murray Walker reading out the top five or six, then missing out the rest apart from the Brits. “Jenson Button starts 12th and Jolyon Palmer is a strong 17th!”

Comments are closed.